A preliminary study on profile and pattern of medication errors from a tertiary care teaching hospital

Background: A medication error is an episode associated with use of medication that should be preventable through effective control system. Investigating the incidence, type, and nature of medication errors are very crucial to prevent them. Aim: The study aimed to analyze and ascertain profile and pattern of medication errors among admitted patients in a tertiary care teaching hospital. Material and methods: The present prospective study was carried out by the Department of Pharmacology in collaboration with the Department of Internal Medicine and Office of Medical Superintendent, MSDS Medical College, Fatehgarh, among the patients admitted to the General medicine ward during October 2013-February 2014. Hospital/medical records, Case sheet of the study subjects, a 46 item self administered questionnaire and Medication error reporting and documentation form served as study tools. Results: Overall incidence of medication errors was found to be 28.3%. 31.4% were ‘Errors in medication ordering and transcription’, 24.4% were ‘Errors in medication dispensing’, whereas 44.2% were observed as ‘Nursing errors in medication administration’. Most frequent nursing errors in medication administration was found to be ‘Medication not given’ i.e. Omission error. 67.4% were due to nurses, 22.1% were due to pharmacists and remaining 10.5% were due to physicians. Most of the nurses attributed cause of this error to ‘Repeated distraction’ and ‘High activity duty hours’ 41.4% and 39.6% respectively. Conclusion: A robust surveillance system to detect such medication errors is need of an hour. Competencies of pharmacology department hibernating in a tertiary care teaching institution could be utilized in the early detection and prevention of medication errors and thus can improve the delivery of care quality to the patients.